2005 United States Electoral College vote count

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538 members of theElectoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win
Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry John Edwards Party Republican Democratic Democratic Home state Texas Massachusetts North Carolina Running mate Dick Cheney John Edwards John Edwards Electoral vote 286 251[a] 1 States carried 31 19 +DC 0
Objections made to the electoral college votes of the 2004 U.S. presidential election.   No objections   Objections defeated
President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President George W. Bush Republican

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The count of theElectoral College ballots during ajoint session of the109th United States Congress, pursuant to theElectoral Count Act, on January 6, 2005, was held as the final step to confirm then-incumbent PresidentGeorge W. Bush's victory in the2004 presidential election over SenatorJohn Kerry (D–MA).

One Democratic representative,Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D–OH-11), filed a congressional objection to the certification of Bush's Ohio electoral votes throughout the session, with one Democratic senator,Barbara Boxer (D–CA), signed onto the objections.

TheUnited States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by theArticle Two of theConstitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of electing thepresident andvice president. Eachstateappoints electors according to itslegislature, equal in number to itscongressional delegation (senators and representatives).Federal office holders cannot be electors. Of the current 538 electors, anabsolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president.^[1] As stated in theTwelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, if no candidate for either office achieves an absolute majority there, acontingent election is held by theUnited States House of Representatives to elect the president, and by theUnited States Senate to elect the vice president; under this amendment, only theelection of 1824 failed to produce a majority for president, and theelection of 1836 for vice president.^{[citation needed]}

Each state and the District of Columbia produces two documents to be forwarded to Congress, acertificate of ascertainment and acertificate of vote. Acertificate of ascertainment is an official document that identifies the state's appointedCollege electors and the tally of the final popular vote count for each candidate in that state^[2] in apresidential election;^[3][4] the certificate of ascertainment is submitted after an election by thegovernor of each state to thearchivist of the United States^[5][6] and others,^[7] in accordance with3 U.S.C. §§ 6–14^[8][9] and theElectoral Count Act.^[10][11] Within the United States' electoral system, the certificates "[represent] a crucial link between the popular vote and votes cast by electors".^[12] The certificates must bear thestate seal and the governor's signature. Staff from theOffice of the Federal Register ensure that each certificate contains all legally required information.^[13] When each state's appointed electors meet to vote (on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December),^[4] they sign and record their vote on acertificate of vote,^[9][11] which are then paired with the certificate of ascertainment, which together are sent to be opened and counted by Congress.^[14]

The12th Amendment mandates Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election.^[15][16] TheElectoral Count Act, a federal law enacted in 1887, further established specific procedures for the counting of the electoral votes by the joint Congress.^[17] The session is ordinarily required to take place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors.^[18] Since the20th Amendment, the newly elected joint Congress declares the winner of the election; all elections before1936 were determined by the outgoing Congress.^{[citation needed]}

A state's certificate of vote can be rejected only if both Houses of Congress, debating separately, vote to accept an objection by a majority in each House.^[19] If the objection is approved by both Houses, the state's votes are not included in the count. Individual votes can also be objected to, and are also not counted. If there are no objections or all objections are overruled, the presiding officer simply includes a state's votes, as declared in the certificate of vote, in the official tally. After the certificates from all states are read and the respective votes are counted, the presiding officer simply announces the final state of the vote. This announcement concludes the joint session and formalizes the recognition of the president-elect and of the vice president-elect.^[1] The senators then depart from the House chamber. The final tally is printed in the Senate and House journals.^{[citation needed]}

One elector in Minnesota cast a ballot for president with the name of "John Ewards" [sic] written on it.^[20] The Electoral College officials certified this ballot as a vote for Edwards for president. The remaining nine electors cast ballots for Kerry. All ten electors in the state cast ballots for Edwards for vice president (Edwards's name was spelled correctly on all ballots for vice president).^[21] This was the first time in U.S. history that an elector had cast a vote for the same person to be both president and vice president. Electoral balloting in Minnesota was performed by secret ballot, and none of the electors admitted to casting the Edwards vote for president, so it may never be known who thefaithless elector was. It is not even known whether the vote for Edwards was deliberate or unintentional; the Republican Secretary of State and several of the Democratic electors have expressed the opinion that this was an accident.^[22]

On January 6, 2005, SenatorBarbara Boxer joined RepresentativeStephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio in filing a congressional objection to the certification of Ohio'sElectoral College votes due to alleged irregularities including disqualification of provisional ballots, alleged misallocation of voting machines, and disproportionately long waits in predominantly African-American communities.^[23][24] Ohio's polling locations and equipment are determined by two Democrats and two Republicans serving on the county's Board of Elections, which ensures that any decision made about polling resources is bipartisan.^[25] The Senate voted the objection down 74–1; the House voted the objection down 267–31.^[23] At the time, it was only the second congressional objection to an entire U.S. state's electoral delegation in American history; the first instance was in 1877, when all the electors from three Southern states in the1876 United States presidential election were challenged, and one from Oregon.^[23][26] The third instance was in 2021, when Republicans objected to the certification of the electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania. An objection to a singlefaithless elector was also filed in 1969.^[23]

Nine representatives who contested Bush's 2004 victory in Ohio had previously contested his2000 victory in Florida. They areBarbara Lee (D-CA-9),Maxine Waters (D-CA-35),Bob Filner (D-CA-51),Cynthia McKinney (D-GA-4),Corrine Brown (D-FL-3),Alcee Hastings (D-FL-23),Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL-2),Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18), andEddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX-30).

• 2004 United States election voting controversies
• 2017 United States Electoral College vote count

• 2004 United States presidential election
• United States Electoral College
• United States election controversies
• Vote counting
• Presidency of George W. Bush
• 109th United States Congress

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